Vimeo of the Week: Drawingmachine by Eske Rex

There’s something very simple and relaxing about the above Core 77 film. Shown last week at the Milan furniture show, Salone Milan 2011, the Drawingmachine by Danish designer Eske Rex. Utilizing two pendulums, the machine creates large-scale graphic drawings. Not only are the results stunning, but so is the machine itself and its sounds and movements. I want a drawing. More info from Danish Crafts here:

Drawingmachine is a construction involving two pendulums, each suspended from a tower construction and connected through “drawing arms” and moveable joints. A ballpoint pen resting on a drawing surface covered with paper is mounted at the point where the pendulums come together. The pendulums are set in motion by hand, and their movements are represented on the paper. The movements of the pendulums affect the entire room, and the experience engages the beholder’s body. While the rhythmic repetitions cause the beholder to pause, the drawing emerges on the paper.

The technique of using weights and pendulums was invented in the Renaissance and applied in the so-called Harmonograph.

Eske Rex is interested in the machine as a sculpture in space, a constantly changing mobile. In addition, the universe in the drawings is interesting by virtue of their spatial, textural, temporal qualities – a never-ending experiment where it is impossible to produce two identical drawings.